International Music Festival 35
|withdraw = | col1 = #22b14c | tag1 = Participating countries | col2 = #d40000 | tag2 = Participants that failed to qualify to the final | col3 = #ffc20e | tag3 = Past participants that did not participate |vote = Each country awards two sets of 12, 10, 8–1 points to their 10 favourite songs: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting |null = |winner = "Phoenix" |pre = 34 |nex = 36 }} International Music Festival 35, often referred to as IMF 35, was the thirty-fifth edition of the International Music Festival. After Australia's second win in a row, the IBU decided once again where the contest will be hosted. The contest was announced to be hosted in Israel due to finishing second in the previous edition. The winner of the contest was Bulgaria with "Phoenix" by Christiana Loizu. Location Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. It has land borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan on the east, the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the east and west, respectively, and Egypt to the southwest. It contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel's financial center and technology hub is Tel Aviv, while Jerusalem is the proclaimed capital, although Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem is internationally unrecognized Bidding phase IBA announced the applying venues for hosting on 14 July 2016. Key }} Host venue Format Semi-final allocation draw The draw that determined the semi-final allocation was held on 20 July 2016 at the headquarters of IBA in Jerusalem. The big 6 countries were first drawn to determine in which semi-final each would country vote. The rest of the forty-two countries were divided into six pots, based on their geographical place. Each time a country was drawn from the pot, its semi-final and half of the semi-final was determined. The six pots were the following: Running order Unlike the previous editions, the running order of the edition was not decided by a random draw as it was decided by the IBU that the running order of the semi-finals and the final of the edition would be decided by producers appointed by both the IBU and the host broadcaster IBA. The IBU said that this was done in order to make the shows more exciting and to ensure that all contestants had a chance to stand out, preventing entries that are too similar cancelling each other out. The running order of the semi-finals was revealed on 27 July 2016. The running order for the final was revealed right after the results of the second semi-final, on TBA 2016. New voting system The IBU announced on July 1 2016 that there would be a new voting system introduced during the edition. The countries would now award two sets of 1-8, 10 and 12 points; one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. The jury votes will be presented by the spokesperson appointed by each broadcaster with the 1-7 points appearing on screen and 8, 10 and 12 being announced by the spokesperson. After all the jury votes are cast by the participating countries, the hosts will present the televoting results of the countries starting with the country that received the less points to the country that received the most points from televoting. The new voting system also applied to the semi-finals to determine the ten qualifiers but as before the qualifiers are announced in a random order. Sneak peeks and betting odds There were seven sneak peeks in this edition with seven or eight countries in each sneak peek. The countries were divided into the sneak peeks according to the order of the songs announcement with the songs that were announced first being in the first sneak peek. The broadcasters could post their result for each of the sneak peeks ranking the songs from first to last. The six sneak peeks were the following: The betting odds of the edition were based on the rankings in the sneak peeks. The average rank of each country represented the country's odds to win the contest. Participating countries Countries in the first semi-final Countries voting in the first semi-final Countries in the second semi-final Countries voting in the second semi-final}} Fifty-two countries have confirmed to take part in the edition. Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, San Marino, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey are returning to the contest after a one-edition absence. Denmark, Lebanon, Morocco and Switzerland will withdraw from the 35th edition. Returning artists Magdalena Cvetkoska Ena took part for FYR Macedonia in the seventh and fourteenth editions. Michele Bravi previously represented San Marino in the thirty-third edition. Clean Bandit represented the United Kingdom in the eleventh, twenty-first and twenty-sixth editions. Kendji Girac took part for both France and Monaco in the twentieth and thirty-first editions. Nicoleta Nucă represented Moldova in the thirtieth and thirty-first editions. Billie represented Belgium in the thirtieth edition. Besa has been previously selected for Albania in the fourteenth, twenty-fifth and twenty-seventh editions. Kerli represented Estonia in the thirty-first edition. Thorsteinn Einarsson represented Iceland in the twenty-third edition. Mc Stojan formerly represented Serbia in the thirty-fourth edition. Aminata represented Latvia in the thirtieth edition. Lina Mayer already represented Slovakia in the thirty-second edition. Tolvai Reni took part for Hungary in the fourteenth, nineteenth and thirty-fourth editions. Zaho previously took part for Algeria in the ninth and seventeenth editions. Ani Lorak represented Ukraine in the fifth, sixth, eightteenth, twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth and thirty-fourth editions. Tove Lo represented Sweden in the fourteenth edition. Results Quarter-final :See more: Quarter-final 3 :Nine countries participated in the quarter final. Armenia, Egypt, Ireland, Moldova and Serbia qualified to the semi-finals while Croatia, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan failed to qualify. Semi-final 1 Twenty-one countries participated in the first semi-final. France, Israel and Norway also voted in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified to the final. Semi-final 2 Twenty-one countries participated in the second semi-final. Australia, Kosovo and Sweden also voted in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified to the final. Grand Final Voting grids Semi-final 1 12 points Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country in the first semi-final: Semi-final 2 12 points Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country in the second semi-final: Final 12 points Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country in the final: Incidents Portuguese entry change On 27 July 2016, it was revealed that the original national selection winner's song "Dame Un Besito" by Ana Malhoa was a cover. Therefor, RTP suggested to change the entry to the runner-up, which was approved by the IBU the same day. Andorran disqualification On 27 July 2016, the IBU announced that due to the fact that Andorra didn't submit any entry by the submission deadline, the country would be disqualified from the edition and will have to pay a special fee. Other countries : Further information: List of countries in the International Music Festival Countries that are active members of the International Broadcasting Union (IBU) are also eligible to participate in the International Music Festival. As in every edition, an invitation to all the members have been sent in order to confirm whether they will participate or not. The following list of countries declined stating their reasons as shown below. Active IBU members * : On 8 June 2016, BTRC stated that a participation is currently in doubt and would be decided after the semi-final result. * : As the final confirmation deadline passed on July 17 and DR did not state anything on their participation, the IBU announced that Denmark will therefor be withdrawing from the 35th edition. A return is yet unknown. * : On 29 June 2016, Duna TV stated that a participation is likely but will ultimately be decided once the final results are out. They did finally confirm their participation a few days before the deadline. * : RÚV announced on May 30 that a decision would be made after the semi-final results are known. * : In an inofficial statement adressed towards the IBU, LBC announced their withdrawal from the 35th edition due to on-going changes and low interest in the competition itself. IBU non-members * : After last taking part in the twenty-fourth edition, Nessma confirmed that they have no interest in returning to the contest. International broadcasts and voting Voting and spokespersons # Laura Tesoro # Teske # Alyona Lanskaya # Ben Camille # Bebe Rexha # Michael Vartan # Ronela Hajati # Mariano Di Vaio # Yohanna # Tika Patsatsia # Al Walser # Donatella Versace # Julie Bergan # Iveta Mukuchyan # Alexandru Foitos # Poli Genova # Manuel Neuer # Armin van Buuren Severina Vučković Natan Milos Karadaglić Jessica Smith David de Gea Milan Mitrovic Pernilla Karlsson Tereza Kerndlova Maggie Smith Helena Paparizou Pasha Parfeny Lynda Woodruff Elina Born Aminata Hashim Thaçi Sabrine Chouib Lanberry Dami Im Ivi Adamou Jurgita Jurkute David Carreira Sada Vidoo Derya Uluğ Antal Timi Gal Gadot Danny Nucci Amel Bent Amel Curic Loboda Maria Cirova Sandy Dilara Kazimova Peter Poles Luina Demi Lovato Notes # Demi Lovato presented the votes for the Rest of the World jury. External links * Forum